Stewardship of Physical Health: Part 4

Introduction and Review of Series Structure

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, August 25th, 2002, in the Adult Sunday School class at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now again, for any who may be visiting with us, just a word of explanation. This is the fourth and final lesson that I will be giving in the adult class as we transition out of our completed studies in the book of Ruth under the guidance of Pastor Jay and begin next Lord's Day, God willing, a study of Donald Carson's book or the substance that's found within the pages of the book, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Priorities from Paul and His Prayers. And Pastor Carlson will be leading that study. You've been encouraged to purchase a copy of this book. They have a good bargain price on it down in the bookstore.

1:00 And you should have received this blue sheet. If you didn't get one, please make sure you get one before the day is out and spend some time going through it in preparation for your first lesson next Lord's Day morning in the adult class. And this will greatly enhance your profit from the book and from the class if you discipline yourself to take the time to use the study sheets and the study guides that will be placed in your hands. And then secondly, you should have received this stapled group of four pages that has seven pages of type.

1:43 These are the promised notes from the class that I've been leading over the past four Lord's Days. And I'd like to pin a big fat medal right in the middle of Anne Rimbach's forehead if it wouldn't hurt her to pin a medal on her forehead and engage in contemporary body, she did yeoman's work in, first of all, taking all of my dictation of those notes and then doing initial editing and then working with me in the final editing, spending a number of hours even on one of her days off yesterday. And I'm greatly in debt to Anne and all of us should feel a sense of indebtedness to her for her loving service to us in making these notes available. Now, I've given you such detailed notes with the hope, that you will occasionally use these to refresh your minds in the matters we've covered. And then for you who are the heads of families, that you would have the basic materials with which to instruct the members of your family that have not been here for the studies, I have basically transcribed the notes from which I taught. In other words, you have in readable form what I have in my unreadable, handwritten form.

3:03 For the most part, if you want to know, people often will ask me, how much of a manuscript do you use when you teach? Well, this is basically a reproduction of my notes with some additions and some deletions. So these are commended to you. And because you have the notes, I will not need to spend much time in any review this morning, simply to give the major headings of where we've been and then plunge into the material that I hope to cover.

3:33 In this last session with you. I began my treatment of this subject of the Christian and the stewardship of his body by setting forth what I called an emphatic disclaimer and a sober warning. And then using the analogy of a string of pearls in which the pearls are not held on that string classed from some exterior metal class, but they are pierced pearls, hung, tied together by a string that goes through each one of them. I sought to open up what I meant by the analogy of the string, the six strands that comprise what I call the larger biblical and theological context of any responsible consideration of the Christian's stewardship of his body. And then we have considered six of the seven pierced pearls, that is, text of scripture, which set forth, the heart of the biblical teaching of the Christian stewardship of his body. But pearls text, which must always be considered in the light of the larger biblical context of the string that passes through them.

The Golden Rule: Inescapable Implications for Body Stewardship

4:49 That is the biblical and theological perspective of holy scripture concerning the body of the Christian. We come now to take up pierced pearl number seven. And it's what I've called and you may want to follow in your notes. You don't need to.

5:06 You'll have the notes there to refer back to this on page six, what I'm calling the inescapable implications of the golden rule.

5:19 What text is there that along with the six texts we've already considered ought to exert constant pressure upon the conscious conscience of a Christian to take reasonable, and to be able to take reasonable, and to be able to take reasonable, and to be able to take reasonable, and to be able to take reasonable, and to be able to take reasonable, informed care of his body? Well, I answer by saying it is the golden rule, the inescapable implications of the golden rule. And when I say the golden rule, I'm referring to our Lord's words in Matthew chapter seven and verse twelve. Please turn there with me in your own Bibles.

5:58 Matthew seven and verse twelve. All things, therefore, whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, even so do you also unto them. For this is the law and the prophets. Now, just a word about the general context.

6:22 Many have called Matthew chapters five through seven, a portion identified as the Sermon on the Mount, a manifesto of the kingdom. In these chapters, Jesus, articulates the fundamental character traits of the sons and daughters of the kingdom that he has come to establish. And he also sets forth the standards, the attitudes and the principles by which the sons and daughters of the kingdom will live. They live in this way, not in order to enter the kingdom.

6:58 They live this way because they are subjects of the king of grace, and are in the kingdom. And so our Lord tells them what the manifestation of kingdom life will be like. So that's the general context. The text itself.

7:17 In this one verse, Jesus sets before us a pithy summary of all of the horizontal, ethical and moral demands of the entire Old Testament. He is making it clear that those ethical demands, as epitomized in the golden rule, are to govern the new covenant community formed by his grace and his power. In this text, we are commanded to put ourselves in the situation of another, and assuming that what we would want others to do to us, that was both righteous and reasonable. We are, are to do to them. And as you would that others should do unto you, that is, given what is right and reasonable, you are to do unto them. Perhaps it can be stated this way. What our righteous and reasonable self-interest would desire to be done to us, our principles, spirit-empowered love, to our neighbor, will compel us to perform with respect to him.

8:40 As you would that others should do unto you, even so do you also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets. This is another way of stating the second great commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Natural self-interest leads us to desire that, that others treat us in a way that is righteous and reasonable.

9:07 And so our Lord gives us this golden rule saying, what your righteous and reasonable self-interest would desire to be done to you, your principle, spirit-empowered love to your neighbor, must compel you to do to him, as you would that others do unto you, even so, do ye also unto them. Leon Morris in his commentary on Matthew has a most helpful paragraph. He writes, the golden rule is found in some form or another in a variety of religions, mostly in the negative. Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you.

9:51 End quote. Jesus, however, enunciates the rule in a positive form, and he appears to have been the first to do so. His followers, are to be active in doing good to others. It is a most important rule for disciples.

10:08 The word, therefore, probably refers to the whole of the preceding sermon, not simply to the immediate foregoing context. In the light of the whole way of life that Jesus is inculcating, this is the rule that his people must obey. This is the rule that his people must obey. This golden rule is a sweeping, all-embracing, ethical guide, which has relevance in every human horizontal relationship and action.

Application to Marital Relationships: Appearance, Efficiency, Longevity

10:45 Now then, let me make some specific applications of the golden rule in connection with the stewardship of our bodies. And here I have, preeminently in my mind, strand number six. In the string, the strand which articulated the principle that some illnesses, some diseases, some bodily infirmities, are the direct result of willful neglect of the stewardship of one's body. Let me seek to tease out some of the application, first of all, in the husband-wife relationship, and that in three areas.

11:30 Appearance, functional efficiency, and longevity. And then I'll leave to you to tease out those three areas in the other relationships. The parent-child, the grandparent-grandchild, church member to church, and church member to the onlooking, unconverted world. I'm not going to take the time to tease it out in all of those three areas with each of those, but I want to park for a few minutes on this matter of how the golden rule has great, implications in the marital relationship with respect to appearance, functional efficiency, and longevity in this area of the stewardship of our bodies. It is clear from the Song of Solomon, a book of the Bible, just as inspired as Paul's letter to the Ephesians. It is clear from the Song of Solomon, in other passages, such as Proverbs 5, 15 to 19, where the son is being exhorted by his father, that the antidote to sexual impurity is an active, joyful, visually oriented sexual relationship with one's wife. And from passages such as Ezekiel 24, 16,

12:53 where Ezekiel's wife is described as the desire, not of his heart, but of his eyes. This day, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes. Now, Ezekiel wasn't a dirty old man. He was a husband who found delight in visually drinking in his wife's body.

13:19 The Song of Solomon is clear in this area. Proverbs 5. In other words, mutual physical attraction is a legitimate and desirable aspect of pure, marital eroticism. Don't let anyone say the Bible is against eroticism.

13:41 It is not. It celebrates it within the sacred bonds of the marital commitment, and in celebrating it, it underscores the physical, visual dimensions of holy eroticism. Now, let me ask you, as a husband and a wife, when you, when you first, quote, fell in love with your spouse, and your heart and affections went out in that mysterious emotional affinity that eventually led, I trust, to a deep, intelligent love that led to a covenantal commitment to be husband or wife, sickness, health, prosperity, difficulty, till death part you. Would it made any difference in the whole process? If she or he were entirely different in his or her physical appearance, physical vigor, physical capacities? In other words, was your love so utterly above the love of the rest of us, that you can sit here and say, the physical appearance of my prospective spouse had absolutely nothing to do with the whole process from the initial attraction to the marriage bed.

15:04 And if you say that, I'm going to tell you, you're a liar or a freak. Excuse my bluntness. You're a liar or you're a freak. That's unnatural.

15:17 And grace does not war against nature. Now, let me ask you, having taken that person in that physical form and condition, as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets. Do you appreciate it if your spouse, has through indifference to the care of his or her body, indifference to diet, indifference to exercise, indifference to reasonable medical knowledge and involvement, become a physical wreck? Now, I'm not talking about the sovereign intervention of God in illnesses and pathologies over which we have no control. Remember, the string is through every one of these pearls. The string is through it. I haven't forgotten that.

16:11 I've chosen my words carefully. There is a real sense in which some husbands and wives defraud by careless sloppiness with regard to their physical appearance, physical capacities and energies, because they are blatantly breaking the golden rule. If you do not love your husband enough to say no to that pattern of snacking, that piles up unburned calories that are turned into fat cells that make you unattractive, how deep is your love for your husband? If you do not love your wife enough to maintain the physical vigor and strength of a man and the appearance of a man who's concerned with his physical well-being to the glory of God, how much do you love your wife as you would that others do unto you? Even so do ye also unto them. Were you not proud to introduce your prospective wife or husband when you, quote, fell in love and courted? And must you now be embarrassed because of a physical appearance that bespeaks total indifference

17:37 to physical well-being, weight gain, physical vigor? Do you like to be embarrassed with an embarrassment that could be avoided? Do you? I ask you, do you?

17:51 I don't. Well, as you would that others do unto you. Even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets. Now, some of you are uncomfortable with that.

18:07 But I ask you, are you ready to take me to task at the end of the class and say, Pastor, you pressed the golden rule beyond reasonable application? I ask you, are you ready to take me to task at the end of the class and say, Pastor, you pressed the golden rule beyond reasonable application? If not, then my dear brother or sister, yield to the pressure of the word of God and start doing something about it. Start with repenting before your spouse, saying, I've sent a terrible message to you by what I've allowed my body to become.

18:41 Start with repentance today, before you pillow your head, and then determined by the grace of God to begin to keep the golden rule. This is true not only in physical appearance but functional efficiency. When one takes seriously the biblical description of what a man and husband, father, head of the household is to be and to do, when a woman takes seriously what she's to be and to do, and we'll be looking at her in Proverbs 31, I mean that babe, she was a bundle of strength and energy and vigor and industriousness, and she didn't do what she did as someone who had willfully, carelessly allowed her physical constitution to go to pot, go to seed. So with regard to functional efficiency in the husband-wife relationship, if we desire our spouse to maintain optimum functional efficiency, and we know that all things being equal, our energy level is directly related to the ability, the ability of our blood to absorb oxygen, which in turn is related to our overall cardiovascular health, which in turn is conditioned by some kind of structured cardiovascular stress,

20:07 then the golden rule says, as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them to maintain functional efficiency. And then longevity. If you desire to have as many years together with as little unnecessary loss of years as possible, again, we're not talking about those diseases that come upon us in spite of our care, and that may make some of us widows or widowers, has made some of you widows and widowers. And I hope touching this does not unnecessarily open up a wound.

20:46 We're not speaking of that. We're talking about carelessness and indifference in the stewardship of the body that cuts short our longevity and makes someone a widow or a widower. Do you want to be left a widow or a widower? As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets.

21:17 Very simple, isn't it? That's why it's called the golden rule. It fits wherever you put it. It works.

Application to Parent-Child and Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships

21:25 It works. It's the golden rule. Now take that to the parent-child relationship. You can see in your printed notes how I've sought to draw this out at least briefly, not extensively, with regard to the parent-child relationship.

21:43 When you were a child, did you not desire to have legitimate pride in the appearance and physical bearing of your parents? Can you remember as a child when if you could introduce your dad to your peers, say, This is my dad. You want to see his muscle? This is my mom.

22:04 And when mom left and the kids said, You know, your mom's kept herself very attractive. Did you like that when you were a kid? I did. My kids have told me they did.

22:19 Well, as you would that others do to you, make yourself a kid again. Are you the kind of parent that gives your kids all things being equal, without body worship, taking into due consideration those sovereignly imposed illnesses and patterns? Remember, the string is through this pearl. I'm going to keep thumping on it.

22:38 Don't detach the golden rule from that six-stranded string. But hung on that string, there is a legitimate application in this area of the parent-child relationship. And I've noted Proverbs 17 and verse 6 as a text that points in this direction. Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children are their fathers.

23:08 Are you the glory of your children in this area, in so much as it is possible, within the bounds of the six-stranded string? As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. And then I've noted in the notes, this can be applied to appearance, functional efficiency, and longevity as well, than the grandparent-grandchild relationship. Again, Proverbs 17, verse 6, the first part of the text speaks of grandchildren being the delight of the grandparents.

23:48 In the ordinary course of things, God wants grandparents to live long enough and have sufficient vigor to enjoy and to delight and glory in their grandchildren. And in Deuteronomy 4, 9, grandparents are commanded to take an active part in the training of the grandchildren. And one of the blessings upon the righteous, Psalm 128, 5, they shall see their children's children. Do you want to see them with an oxygen tank at your side and the supply line in your nose because you've got emphysema from smoking?

24:32 No, no. All right, do you want to see them sitting on a chair and you can't get up and even throw a ball with them? Go out and take a vigorous walk with them because you've been a couch potato and robbed yourself of that ability? As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets.

Application to Church and World Relationships

24:57 And then we can apply it to the church member to church relationships. Once again, the above division of appearance, functional efficiency, and longevity have applications within the body of Christ. As I've stated earlier, we desperately need the aged, mature, wise, men and women among us. But if they are cut short or rendered totally incompetent because of indifference to the body, we're robbing our brothers and sisters of benefits that otherwise they could have.

25:31 And love works. No ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And then the church member to the world relationship. And I've cited three texts.

25:43 Paul focuses particularly in Philippians 2 upon grousing and grumbling. He said, Do all things without grousing and grumbling, that you may be blameless and harmless sons of God, without rebuke, shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Where grousing and grumbling are dominant, and sins the Christian shines when he does things cheerfully as unto the Lord. Where self-indulgence and obesity and couch potato-ism are the dominant sins of a society, how do we shine as lights when our bearing and appearance witnesses we've not given in to the couch potato, to the obesity, to the indifference, to this sacred temple of God the Holy Spirit. It underscores and validates our witness. Romans 12, 2. Be not conformed to this age.

26:44 And what is one of the marks of this age? If you have read the original handouts and read that editorial, too many calories in, too few out, you know that obesity is of epidemic proportions among the adults and increasingly among children.

27:06 You want to bear witness that you haven't sold out and caved in to the spirit of this age that produces this? Then take care of your body. And 1 Peter 4, 3 and 4 where Peter says, Your past life sufficed to conform to the fleshly indulgences of the pagan world. Now manifest that you're a different man or woman in Jesus Christ.

Specific Areas of Stewardship: Diet, Exercise, Medical Awareness

27:31 So I say the Golden Rule is the seventh of these pierced pearls, the implications of which demand that the believer make conscience about the stewardship of his body. Now then we come to Roman numeral number four in your notes. We looked at the disclaimer and the warning, the string, the pearls. Now the specific areas in which this concern and effort regarding the stewardship of one's body should be implemented.

28:05 The major areas, the concern and effort regarding these matters, I've listed three. Diet, not dieting. There's a difference. Diet is an incorporation into my lifestyle of patterns of eating that fit 1 Corinthians 10, 31.

28:25 Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. I cannot glorify God in my eating and drinking. If I eat and drink for purposes other than those for which God has given food. And God has not given food as a means by which I dig my grave with my teeth and seal my early demise with my taste buds and my belly.

28:56 He's given food that I might enjoy it, but ultimately that I might be strengthened and nourished to do the will of God in this holy temple. That he has bought with the blood of his own Son and indwelt by his own Holy Spirit. Exercise. Remember 1 Timothy 4, 8.

29:18 Bodily discipline or exercise is profitable for a little. And then medical awareness and involvement, 1 Timothy 5, 23. Timothy, Paul writes and says, be no longer a drinker of water, but take a little wine for your stomach's sake and your oft infirmities. Apparently, Timothy had a chronic problem of acid reflux or some other kind of gastrointestinal problem.

29:44 If Paul were living today, I'm convinced he'd know the over-the-counter remedies that would help. He may have said, take a little Zantax. Take a little Pepto-Bismol. But Timothy, don't be indifferent to the available medicinal means to help your physical problem.

30:01 I want you to be optimum in your efficiency in the work of the gospel. Timothy, don't be so spiritually minded that all you do is drink water when a little wine would help your stomach's problem and your oft infirmities. Paul is giving a little home remedy. Now, as someone has said, in one of the Scottish preachers, how much drunkenness and how much of the liquor business is hidden under Paul's little wine.

30:30 And that's true. People abuse the word of God. But there is an element of truth. There's a principle.

30:35 You see it again in 2 Kings 20 and verse 7. The prophet comes to Hezekiah and says, hey, get your house in order. You're going to die. Hezekiah prays.

30:44 The prophet comes and says, God's heard your prayer. You're going to live. Well, what does he do? He then puts a poultice of figs upon his boil.

30:52 God used means to fulfill his own prophetic word to heal him. A marvelous principle. If we pray, we seek the face of God. But we are aware of and we judiciously use medical means.

31:10 And so, these are the three major areas that are involved in a responsible, comprehensive administration of the stewardship of our bodies. Diet, exercise, medical awareness and involvement. Now, notice letter B, a word of explanation. Since I do not believe it is the place of the pastor to give detailed instruction on these matters in the church in its stated gatherings for worship and instruction, I am not giving detailed teaching on these three crucial areas.

Practical Follow-Through and Church Seminars

31:45 I don't believe it's my right and responsibility to do so in the house of God. However, letter C, it is my hope and prayer that many of you, I don't have the faith to say all of you, owe you of little faith. I wish I could say it is my hope and prayer that all of you, God forgive me if it's unbelief, but I do have hope and prayer to believe that many of you will determine to follow through on these issues in the following practical ways. Number one, that you will obtain and carefully read the booklet mentioned in the handouts. I'm speaking particularly on the fourth page of the handouts where from the Harvard Medical School, this comes with one of my medical newsletters, special supplement on exercise, a very helpful little tabulation of some basics, and then exercise, a program you can live with. It's the most simple, comprehensive, and responsible statement in 50 pages and will be well worth the investment. There's an order form.

33:02 I have no investment in the stock and the rest. I gain nothing from this, but trusting that I will be of help to some of you. And then my second hope in prayer is that there will be a groundswell of desire to have some voluntary church seminars addressing these issues possibly held on a Friday night. In these seminars, we would seek to secure the services of a competent nutritionist, physician, and a professional exercise trainer.

33:30 If you're convinced that this would be helpful to you, please indicate the same to one of your deacons or elders. That's my hope, that enough of you will say, hey, enough is enough. I want to get a handle on these things. I want to know that what I'm putting on the table for my husband and my children is indeed that which can be consumed to the glory of God.

33:52 It is, by all responsible nutritional knowledge, a balanced, healthy diet in proper proportions, et cetera, et cetera. That's the role of the nutritionist to help you. Likewise, with starting in some regimen of exercise, it's the province of the physician and of the professional physical trainer to be able to say, look, if you're totally out of shape, this is how you've got to start. Reasonably, in this way, this way, this way, and where it'll go, nobody knows, but it's my hope that there'll be that kind of groundswell, and I believe with a good conscience, we could sponsor something like that on a Friday night, concerned for you as the Lord's people and not wanting you to have to go off and spend a lot of bucks and get those services. My urologist, Dr. Schlecker, who took out my prostate and I see him every six months, my last visit to him, he mentioned to me, he said, you know, do you ever want to have a doctor come and speak on general health? He said, one of my colleagues and myself, we go around to churches and synagogues doing this.

Concluding Exhortations: No Judging, Openness, Mutual Admonition

34:57 So there are competent people ready to help us. My final summary, we've examined these seven pierced pearls threaded on the string of six strands. I trust they have persuaded you from the scriptures to cultivate a concern and to implement a concrete effort to be a good steward of your body. I remind you of this very vital text, to him who knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin.

35:29 Now I want to give you three concluding exhortations. Realizing that the devil has not gone on a vacation these four weeks while I've been delivering this material, nor will he go on a vacation now that it's been delivered, and he sits or crouches ready to take the best aspects of God's truth and use them to his own ends. And so I want to give these three pastoral exhortations. Number one, let us not inwardly or verbally judge one another by mere appearances.

36:04 In John 7, 24, Jesus said, Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. There's some of you, in terms of the way God genetically programmed you, that you look like the epitome of good physical health and conditioning. Anyone looking at you would say, Boy, you're disciplined in your diet and your exercise and whatever medical concerns you have, you've got a handle on them. And that person may be absolutely indifferent to diet, exercise, have clogged arteries, a rotten cardiovascular system.

36:42 Don't judge according to appearance. Don't do that. It's sinful. There may be others who, in appearance, you say, Boy, they've got no handle on diet.

36:53 How do you know? There may be issues that they are wrestling with that you know nothing about. Matthew 7, verses 1 to 5, Judge not that you be not judged, for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again.

37:09 Do you like to be judged when someone doesn't have all the facts? Then don't do it. Don't do it. It would be a crime, a terrible crime, if inwardly or verbally we began to judge one another by mere appearances.

37:24 I exhort you, don't do it. Secondly, let us seek to be open, honest, and prayerful with one another regarding our struggles, in these matters. James 5, verse 16, Confess your sins one to another in order to pick on one another. No.

37:43 Confess your sins one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. You see, talking about these things to one another is sort of like talking about your intimate life as a husband or wife. You don't talk about that to anyone else. Well, let me assure you, this is not in the category of your intimate life with your husband or wife.

38:04 It should not be discussed with anyone but husband or wife, or under certain circumstances in the confidential relationship with a pastor or a doctor. But brethren, if we are sinning in this area and we've made efforts and we've fallen, we need each other's help. Confess your sins one to another. Pray one for another.

38:25 John, I want to make myself accountable to you. I've really committed myself in this area of diet and exercise and I need help. I need somebody to be a barb in my conscience. Perhaps out of this we might even have an internal support group.

38:42 Why spend ten bucks a week going to get weighed at Weight Watchers if you could come to a group of your brothers or sisters, get on the scale for free, and pray together and exhort one another? I don't know where it's going. I don't have a secret little spreadsheet here, this and that. I'm just bearing my heart to you, urging you as God's people to seek to be open, honest and prayerful with one another regarding your struggles in these matters.

39:11 One of my fellow elders has made himself very open and honest with me about his struggles in this area. And just the fact that he knows that I can ask him on any given day, how did you do today, is a means that God uses. Now don't sit there trying to figure out which one it is. It's none of your business.

39:29 All right. Thirdly, now it's two of my fellow elders that wasn't accurate. So now we're narrowing down the scope. All right.

39:39 Number three, let us seek to be faithful in, now notice my words, let us seek to be faithful in judicious and gracious, exhorting, admonishing, and helping one another in these matters. And I've given you three texts, Hebrews 3.13. Exhort one another daily while it is called today and exhort one another in the name of God.

40:05 Now, exhort doesn't mean you come up to someone with a wrinkled brow and say, brother, are you doing what you should do? Sister? No, no, no. The word exhort has a wide range of what people would say, a wide semantic range.

40:19 It means coming alongside, encouraging, maybe coming alongside and nudging, maybe coming alongside and giving and whacking the ribs, maybe coming alongside and giving a boot in the britches. But it has the full meaning of coming alongside and giving a full range of significance. And we're told to exhort one another while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through what? The deceitfulness of sin.

40:46 Sin is deceitful. It's constantly adjusting reality in order to fit the passions and appetites of the flesh. And in few areas is its deceitfulness seen more clearly than when we get determined to get a handle on bodily discipline. Oh, but I face its deceitfulness every single time I know in my schedule it's time to get on my treadmill and do my other exercises.

41:15 My head and my renewed heart go into a debate and then when I'm on my treadmill it's a constant debate. Oh, you've done 15 minutes. Why you got to go for the half hour? I mean, you paid your...

41:27 And I'm constantly having to talk to my head. Constantly. Sin is so deceitful. And here's where we need to exhort one another.

41:40 Romans 15, 14. The mark of spiritual maturity in Paul's mind with regard to the Romans was this. He said, I am persuaded of you, Romans, that you've reached a stage of maturity described in these words. I myself am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

42:05 Now, the word admonish, nutheteo, that's the crack in the ribs. That's the finger pointed, but with goodness and with knowledge, not with acrimony and judgmentalism. It is judicious and gracious admonition. And then Galatians 6, 1 and 2.

42:27 If any be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. And brethren, those are my concluding exhortations, and I trust that by God's grace we will heed them and in the days to come that there will be tangible fruit from these sessions together. Now, we've got seven, eight minutes.

Questions and Answers: Navigating Medical Orthodoxy and Personal Struggles

42:56 I said I hoped we would have time for questions and answers, comments, et cetera, and we've got the time. Questions? Comments? Yes, David.

43:12 Yeah. Yes. Let me repeat that for Leslie's sake, that if you're reading at all, as I do, just my four or five layman's medical reports, one of them is a distillation in layman's terms of the leading emphases in the New England Journal of Medicine, the other one comes from Harvard Medical School, another from Johns Hopkins, and some of the well-known and respected things. And it's evident that what was considered medical orthodoxy in 1995 in certain areas is now heterodoxy in the year 2002.

43:53 And David's question is, what do we do in this area and how do we relate to one another? Well, this is why I use the term reasonable, what term did I use? A reasonable awareness knowledge in one of my initial let's see if I can find it in my own notes here, that my goal was that, yeah, here we are, to promote a conscientious and balanced concern and to implement and promote an informed, disciplined effort. And by informed, that means that we do seek to be aware, we don't jump on the cutting edge latest pronouncement in these matters.

44:36 I come back again and again to the biblical injunction, all things in moderation. And some years ago there was real agitation that caffeine was a major cause of heart problems. The latest studies indicate two to three cups of coffee today, especially if you use any kind of a paper filter to take out certain bad stuff in it, show no relationship to cardiovascular problems and perhaps a minor relationship to blood pressure. So it just illustrates that we do not want to be those who jump on the cutting edge of things, and at the same time, we must recognize that to his own master a servant stands or falls, that someone may have a chronic medical problem in a given area in which they have tried all of the standard therapies for that and they've come up short. And they may now be on cutting edge stuff or what we might call alternative medicine where double blind studies have not been done and the worth of that the worth of this particular modality has not been validated scientifically with double blind studies with a broad spectrum of subjects which is always the safest thing. And so we just have to say to his own master a servant stands or falls. But in terms of how we ought to regulate this thing, I think we come back again and again to the principle all things in moderation and the recognition that the medical community

46:05 is not omniscient. And so we are neither ready to jump on the latest cutting edge theory nor are we prepared to lag behind on matters that are so incontrovertibly established. For example, 40 years ago if you took a strong stand cigarette smoking is a major cause of lung cancer someone might have said well, how can you prove that? That has not been empirically demonstrated.

46:33 You can't say that now. It has been so demonstrated that a man is a fool a woman is a fool who says well, I don't believe all of that stuff. That's just sticking your head in the sand. Back 10 years ago if you were taking glucosamine and chondroitin for joint health you were beginning to have some creaky joints.

46:53 People said oh, you're a health food nut. You're a supplement nut. But now double blind studies have been done and standard orthopedic literature is saying hey, there's a lot of people this helps. It may not help but it has really helped people.

47:08 In double blind studies and there do not seem to be a lot of toxic side effects so a believer then can say Lord, my joints are getting a little stiff I want to honor you and do all I can to unstiffen them would you bless? I don't mean to be cheeky when I say this when I take my medications that I have to take for a couple of medical problems with my supplements put them in my hand in the morning almost every morning I pray over them and say Lord, these have no power to help me but with your blessings I can take them in faith and I swallow them all at once I drive my wife crazy one gulp of orange juice and down they go all right but I can do that now if unfolding medical studies show that a particular medication is no I'm going to stop taking it but right now I can take it to the glory of God and it's not it's not set in iron in concrete and so we need to be flexible on those things David am I am I responding to the question am I am I am I responding to the question yeah good yes yes Leslie is telling us he's lost 75 pounds yeah he's saying that his legs are ruined because of all that excessive weight

48:37 that he carried for many years and he's not asking the elders to come and lay hands on him and ask God to reverse the results of that effect now Leslie told me a couple weeks ago he said if you want to use it and I was not going to even though he gave me permission to do so I'm taking the initiative to tell you as a warning to some of you because Leslie you're close to me age wise you're what 60 66 yes two years behind me so let that be a beacon our brother is putting himself forward as as an example to us and I trust that we'll heed that exhortation all right we got two more minutes yes Bill crank the volume up so everyone will get it and even Leslie may be able to get it yeah yeah yeah yeah all right Bill's question is what do we do we come to church gatherings and the rest or maybe picnics

50:06 at one another's home and there's a lot of stuff that's got what should we say it's not the most nutritional and for someone struggling with weight I would say two things Bill number one are we all right Leslie do I need to repeat that are we all right okay I would say first of all there is a biblical handle on the lifestyle of your eating you can go out and someone can treat you to a meal when you can have a big fat juicy well marbled steak with sour cream on a potato to the glory of God because it's not part of your lifestyle and you know that you know an extra 15 minutes on the treadmill the next time will burn up the calories however if one is struggling with discipline in this area and is a pattern of seeking to lose weight to get down to a proper healthy weight level then that person has just got to deny himself or herself and if it's a group setting you're not going to offend anyone I mean if you're over at a special meal at someone's home then you need to just graciously say my dear brother or sister I deeply appreciate all that you've done but I'm really seeking to get a handle would you excuse me from partaking of this and then just graciously say thank you but no thank you the way some of our people feel that God's called them to be teetotalers and they just say

51:35 look I appreciate the offer of that nice you know wine but for me it's a no-no I trust you understand I appreciate the love shown that you went out and got an expensive bottle of wine I'll enjoy watching others enjoy but it's a no-no for me if you've got a lot of other questions first Friday night seminar we can take them up alright good let's pray our father we thank you that your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway we thank you that we need not be bullied by the world's philosophy and opinions but we have your word to enlighten our judgment to instruct our consciences we have your Holy Spirit dwelling in us to give us the strength to walk in the light of your word so father we pray seal these things to our hearts and grant us grace to live out the implications of them we plead for your glory and for our good and the good of our children and our grandchildren and the non-looking world and one another for Jesus' sake Amen